I’ve decided I’m done with the trolls, frankly. I’ve spoken on why I feel twitter has become a toxic environment and how a lot of the people I just mentioned should take accountability for that. Sadly, it seems Twitter wants to continue going in a direction where we say crazy sh*t to people we’d never say to their face. (For the record - I’ve never said anything that I wouldn’t say to somebody’s face. If BucksFilmRoom was here? I’d absolutely say everything I said. I can’t say the same about the 1,000 people who DM’d me calling me a pu**y, c*nt, etc.) Where a bunch of unqualified bloggers bash coaches incessantly, call KD sensitive and soft, and make it so athletes can’t even go on Twitter, basically. KD is a sensitive soft a-hole for being human. For dealing with the same insecurities that — admit it, deep down, we all have. God forbid the man be insecure — HUMAN — the same thing we encourage everyone to be in our mental health education — while also calling him a soft baby for caring what others think of him.
I have been helpful to 6K or so legitimate people who actually like my content. I’ve tried to respond to every DM and almost every legitimate basketball question. So if I see you pop up in my timeline with a profanity at me, or a clown emoji, or anything else blatantly disrespectful - I usually hit the block button. And once I started doing that - apparently it became a badge of honor in the blogosphere to screenshot that I blocked you and also celebrate that. Cool, I guess. Whatever makes you happy.
You can check who’s following me and see it’s pretty clear some of the big names in basketball follow me. Even people who have trolled me plenty have admitted I know my stuff. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me...but I would take the word of the lifelong reporters and basketball analysts and coaches who follow me over the bloggers, the guys who are verified when we have no idea why they’re verified, and the obnoxious analytic frauds who have 10K followers and literally make shit up. There are literally lifelong analysts, coaches, top NBA players, commentators, front office exec’s, etc. who follow me - but they are not the ones out there TWEETING about it. Because a bunch of people have decided to make out-of-context snippets and such go viral, that’s what you think of me. You don’t know me, you probably haven’t followed me. Try giving it a chance.
WAR??!!
I’m done waging war. From this point forward, I’m done engaging with trolls, obnoxious people, relentless negativity. I’m sorry if I’ve clogged your timelines with that crap. From now on, my rules are pretty simple:
Follow if you want. Be respectful. Act like a normal human being. Keep it to basketball.
Do that, and we’ll all get along just fine.
Psychologists can explain the phenomenon better than I can but whether you realize it or not, you are unbelievably more likely to side with someone, take their word for it, if they have a blue check, hundreds of thousands of followers, etc. I represent as myself - no burner, no made up account name, my actual picture, etc. That’s made me a target for trolls - who apparently have nothing better to do? But if you really love basketball, you’ll probably like my content. Chances are, you have seen some of my tweets already - a lot of my X’s and O’s explanations, YouTube videos, etc. have gone relatively viral. You just haven’t clicked follow because I didn’t have the blue check. Follow, check out some of those, and then form your opinion.
My ethos is simple: I respect coaches, having been there and understanding how tough the job is. I respect players, having worked closely with them & understanding the immense pressure and 24-7 scrutiny they’re under. I respect beat writers and people who travel around reporting on teams and bust their rears to give good coverage and so on. I respect you if you treat me with respect. Facts > Jokes, which I know is about the opposite of normal twitter.
More than likely, that means I have a pretty small niche following on here. But to my followers and people who have been loyal, I appreciate you tremendously.
I promise I will ignore the trolls from now on. I’ve said my piece, I’ll leave that all in the past. If you choose to side w the bloggers and co. over me, fine.
If you legitimately want to learn about basketball and understand the X’s and O’s better, I’m glad you’ve found me.
If you’ve followed for a while and would like to show support, patreon.com/ScoutWithBryan is where you can. Yes: I realize asking for money in DMs isn’t the best move. But at some point, people need to decide if they want clickbait to continue to rule the basketball world and there to continue to be 80,000 different basketball bloggers and experts, or if there is still a thing called “expertise” that’s maybe worth encouraging by supporting. I have nothing against those 80,000 - there are good apples and bad apples, rising star bloggers and goofballs. I’d love to help and be a resource. But if you just want to be a disrespectful troll, you get no respect from me.
If you’re a blogger/writer/etc. about basketball at any level - here’s what I’m willing to do. Help you. I want to be a resource. Tag me if you have a basketball question. DM me. Have me on the podcast and I’ll talk ball all day. There’s no reason we can’t get along.
BUT AREN’T YOU A BLOGBOY RIGHT NOW?!!
Yes, I am currently typing this on my blog. Astute observation. Blogboy to me means someone who thinks they know a ton about basketball and feels qualified to call Jason Kidd and Jim Boylen “dumb” despite being a blackjack dealer. Just having a blog doesn’t make you a blog boy. There are a lot of really good ones that I follow, promote, have done pods with, etc. But there are too many fish in the sea right now, and not enough people who are willing to really do the legwork needed to learn the game.
My credentials are listed on this site and my Twitter. I put in my time to earn my stripes. Although it pains some on Twitter to admit it, expertise is still a thing. I have stated many times that I am not with a team anymore by lifestyle choice. I didn’t like being in an industry where the average coach gets fired every couple years and the whole staff gets thrown into limbo, and you have to be willing to move your family around the country non-stop. I decided to give the media side a run. I’ve been shocked to find how many clowns who think Russell Westbrook never should’ve been made a PG feel qualified to call out NBA head coaches. I think that plays a part in the massive instability in the industry, including cuckoo billionaires who made their living in other fields thinking they’re experts at running a basketball team (which usually >> dysfunction). They let this “noise” get to them. I am trying to help make it smarter noise, so coaches can occasionally hang onto a job for a while and not have to deal with psychotic fans demanding they get fired every day.
Do I care about a blue check? No. If Twitter came calling and said they’d like to give me one, would I take it? Sure! But it’s hysterical how many people think I’m all bummed out, because I’m sitting here 6 months into my Twitter career and the trolls decide to make it look like I’ve failed. I have over 6300 followers! I have 115 paying people! I have hundreds of others who message me and tell me how much they love and appreciate my content. The comments on my Warriors’ G6 video are literally about half “this is the best analysis I’ve ever seen.” How many other people - tweeting under their OWN name - with no BS self-given HoopsReference handle - no big site hawking their stuff, no support from the big gatekeepers - have 6300 followers mostly from word of mouth?! And yes, I know some of you may be trolls. May have just found me from this nonsense. But I’d say I’m doing alright! Blue check don’t validate me! In case you’re new to Twitter, they will literally validate just about anyone. It’s literally why they’ve paused applications for verification. My experience is my credential. I don’t need to please everyone.
What I want to do: Analyze basketball. Feed my family. That’s all. I have a beautiful girlfriend and a puppy. I have never in my life tweeted from a burner account or created any fake email. If I’ve ever said anything to you, the DMs out there, etc. - you know it. I don’t hide behind a random Twitter handle. My name is on everything I write.
The best comedy is all of the people convinced what an unhinged, deranged madman I am. Last year when I did the Hawks and Raptors scouting I coached a team of 7th graders and gave lessons on the side. (You can read my reviews. They’re quite good.) Notice how not a single person piling on me here has actually MET me, had a phone convo with me. The author of the freaking BSO piece didn’t even contact me for the ‘expose’ he wrote about me. And all the people also ranting about what a psycho I am - you know how many people came to my DM’s to say: are you OK man? Do you need everything? Everything alright? Maybe 3. You know how many people sent me hate DM’s? Maybe 300. Twitter is literally fake. A lot of people have a whole lot of clout and think they’re really important from it. I know what I did in basketball. Basketball people know what I did in basketball. If you ask anyone who actually KNOWS me - I can promise you I’m a very polite, respectful young man. I just tell it like it is. And people today would rather judge someone from one screenshot than follow them for a day.
From now on, I’ll try to avoid the trolls and just put out analysis. Sorry for getting sucked into all this nonsense. Thank you for reading. If you’ve supported from Day 1, or now you get what I’m about - please, do me a favor. Send someone this link. RT this post. Tell the guys you hoop with to check out my Zion video, or my Giannis video, or my Twitter. Clearly, I’m punching up. I need basketball junkies who get it and who respect me keeping it real to keep spreading it for me.
Because believe me, I’m gonna keep it real.
